​June saw drastically contrasting weather with Storm Hector causing disruption throughout the UK during the middle of the month. Although the Central Belt of Scotland wasn`t as badly affected as many regions down south, gales caused problems on the railways and roads here with most ferry services working a reduced service or cancelled altogether. Towards the end of June, however, everyone was basking in record-breaking temperatures with hardly a cloud in sight, conditions which are set to continue well into July. Scotland may have recorded its hottest ever temperature on Thursday 28 June when 33.2C degrees was reached at Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, but this was not confirmed by the Met Office. During the period of exceptionally fine weather the wind here was mainly from the east which brought Runway 05 into operation for most of the time.

Above right: Palma-bound Thomas Cook A321-231(WL) G-TCVD, still in partial Monarch Airlines colours, is pictured starting its take-off run at Glasgow, early on Sunday 17 June. I`d already photographed the same aircraft on the first day of the month arriving at Corfu Airport when it brought holidaymakers to the island from Gatwick. The Kanoni peninsula, where I stayed, lacks the buzz of resorts like Gouvia or Kassiopi, but it`s a great place to chill-out, especially if you`re into aircraft photography.

Many more high-res shots taken at Corfu in early June, and information on shooting the planes, can be found on a separate page: Click here to view.

Jet Airliners

Korean Air Lines returned to Glasgow this summer but it looks like the venture hasn`t been a success - apparently only 37 passengers were on this year`s sole inbound tourist flight from Seoul (no pun intended) so I doubt we`ll see the carrier back at Glasgow in 2019. With such a vast fleet it was disappointing that both aircraft used this year had visited Glasgow before. Pictured above is A330-223 HL8227 arriving on 7 June. A330-223 HL8212 in Skyteam livery appeared on Thursday 14 to collect the passengers but having obtained a few decent shots of this aircraft`s arrival last year, I didn`t bother making the effort this time round.

Following a torrential downpour, the skies cleared and a superb rainbow appeared shortly before the Korean jet landed and remained vivid for around 20 minutes, however, I never had a lens wide enough with me to capture the full spread of the arc in a single frame.

Air Canada Rouge resumed its seasonal service between Toronto and Glasgow on Sunday 17 June when Boeing 767-316(ER)(WL) C-FMLZ arrived at 06:15 hrs, setting down on Runway 23 slightly ahead of schedule.

Air Transat A330-243 C-GTSN looks as though it lost a few inches of tread when its tyres hit the tarmac on Monday 11 June.

On Tuesday 19 June, Triple-seven A6-ENE worked the first of the twice-daily Emirates services but went tech prior to returning to Dubai. One of its engines had developed a fault which was serious enough to rule out an on-site repair. Another engine was required and speculation mounted that an Emirates freighter would appear, however, a decision was made that ruled out the cargo being brought directly to Glasgow. Emirates Skycargo Boeing 777-F1H A6-EFD arrived at Prestwick from Al Maktoum International Airport, United Arab Emirates, mid-afternoon on Saturday 23rd with the replacement engine which was subsequently loaded onto a vehicle and brought to the stranded aircraft. Engineers worked throughout the night and A6-ENE took-off again at 13:00 hrs on Monday 25th. (The shot below left shows the aircraft on stand shortly before `going tech` on June 19th).

Below: Yet another Oman Air ​Boeing 737-8 MAX, in this case A4O-MC, stopped off at Glasgow International en route to the carrier`s Oman base from the factory at Boeing Field, Seattle. Several of these brand new airliners have passed through here over the past year or so. with hopefully more to follow.

At first glance anyone unfamiliar with the airport could be forgiven in thinking that a problem at the drop-off / pick-up area has caused a massive tail back of traffic around the perimeter, however, the cars are all empty and being stored in the compound just west of the Loganair hangar, directly in front of the spotters` mound.

On Saturday 9 June around lunchtime the Police closed off the A726 Barnsford Road near the airport, between Houston Road and the Red Smiddy roundabout after a lorry had shed its load. The clear up was almost complete when I passed by with no sign of the offending vehicle, just a JCB stacking the hay bales for uplift.

​Early morning on Sunday 24 June there was a ground incident whereby Reus-bound Thomas Cook A321-211 G-TCDW suffered damage to the underside of its tailplane, apparently after coming into contact with a set of steps. The flight was subject to a lengthy delay and passengers had to wait over 24hrs until Titan Airways Boeing 757-256 G-ZAPX was drafted in to cover a couple of the affected TC routes. The aircraft is seen here making a morning arrival for the first of these.

Next, time for a nautical interlude...

​During the afternoon of Monday 18 June, I went down to Park Quay to photograph the US Navy troopship USTS Empire State VI (T-AP-1001) of the United States Maritime Service, one of the most interesting visitors to appear on the Upper Clyde in recent years. In addition to her troop carrying role she also serves as a training vessel and each summer she takes a 100-day voyage, with students in the Regiment of Cadets carrying out the majority of the tasks as part of their training requirements. This year, the ship set off from State University of New York Maritime College, Fort Schuyler, on May 7th and visited Palma, Majorca, before coming to Glasgow.

Launched on 16 September 1961, Empire State VI was originally built as a Federal Government's Maritime Administration MARAD Type C4-S-1u break bulk cargo freighter. She was delivered to the States Lines on 19 April 1962 as the SS Oregon, a name she kept until purchased in February 1977 by Moore McCormack Lines who renamed the vessel Mormactide. She went to United States Lines in 1983 when USL purchased MML. Although not the last private owner of the vessel, Moore McCormack Lines was the last company to operate Empire State before she entered government service, as USL only operated container ships.

In 1986, she was acquired by Federal Government's Maritime Administration, and plans were made to have her converted to an ammunition ship, however, she was laid up in the James River, Virginia, as part of the National Defence Reserve Fleet. Two years later Mormactide was taken to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, and underwent a conversion to a Training Ship, also receiving her current identity. She was delivered to the New York Maritime College on New Year's Eve, 1989 to replace the slightly older Empire State V.

​In 1994 Empire State VI was activated by MARAD to support the withdrawal of American troops from Mogadishu, Somalia. She has also assisted with humanitarian relief operations including in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita in 2005 which devastated the Gulf Coast. She was again in action following Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and Hurricane Harvey in 2017.

Park Quay at Erskine gives good but distant views of aircraft descending over Clydebank on finals for Runway 23 and several appeared above the Titan Crane, including a couple of biz-jets (see Biz-Jet Section below), while I was waiting for the Empire State to sail past. ​Newshot Island, which lies immediately east of Park Quay, hasn`t been an actual island for many, many decades. In years gone by, when shipping on the Clyde was at its peak, there was a constant battle to keep the riverbed free of silt and sand and the area around Newshot Island was particularly troublesome. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, during dredging operations between Clydebank and the city centre, numerous wooden mud punts were filled and towed further downriver to dump the spoil.

​Many were abandoned and can still be found, scattered along the muddy stretch of riverbank at Newshot alongside several wrecked wooden schooners which were towed here and left to rot after they were damaged in a serious fire at Kingston Dock in Glasgow in 1914.

​The punts, along with the larger vessels, are fully exposed at low tide. In addition to the schooners, there`s this steel-hulled craft which experts believe could possibly be the world`s first purpose-built diving-bell boat. The pillar at the stern supported a crane which lowered and raised the necessary life-supporting equipment. ​

Air Canada Rouge Boeing 767-375(ER) C-GEOQ moments from landing on the 28th.

Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-2Q8(WL) N702TW about to head back to New York JFK on June 21st.

Turboprop Airliners

​Loganair plans to launch a series of European routes from next summer by flying jet aircraft for the first time in 30 years, the Scottish carrier having used a couple of leased BAe 146-200s between 1988 and 1990. Loganair managing director Jonathan Hinkles announced that the airline will take over at least two 50-seat Embraer jets, probably E145s, from its sister carrier bmi regional, which will initially operate the Glasgow-Stornoway service.

No foreign destinations have been mentioned but Brussels is seen by aviation insiders as an obvious gap in Glasgow’s route network with other cities on the European continent well within range. If the initial move proves successful, some additional European routes may be launched from Edinburgh. Loganair currently uses shorter-range prop-driven aircraft throughout the Highlands and Islands network. Its current sole mainland European route, between Inverness and Bergen in Norway, is operated using bmi regional aircraft.

Even though Loganair reported a pre-tax loss of £8.93m for the year to March 2018, this is largely connected with the end of its franchise agreement with Flybe. Direct competition on six routes followed, including five in the Highlands and Islands, which did neither airline any favours and after the break-up, Loganair spent £2.98m re-establishing its own brand and infrastructure. Delays in code-sharing agreements with new business partners cost a further £2.09m but the `price war` with Flybe is estimated to have cost Loganair around £6.8m. Even so, the future is looking bright.

Recent research, involving almost 200 businesses and other organisations in Skye has revealed that most would like a regular air service between the island and Central Scotland. In particular, they said regular flights to Glasgow Airport would make onward journeys to and from London and other English cities far easier. Loganair ran services from Ashaig Airfield, just outside Broadford, to Glasgow until 1988 and now only Loch Lomond Seaplanes and ambulance aircraft use the strip, which was built by Army engineers in the 1970s. There are currently two ferry services from the mainland to the island, one from Mallaig to Armadale with another, shorter crossing from Glenelg to Kyle Rhea, plus the road bridge which opened in October 1995.

The Isle of Skye is one of the UK`s most stunning destinations but its services are being overwhelmed by the number of tourists flocking there to enjoy the rugged mountains, sea lochs and abundant wildlife. The situation was so bad last summer that Police Scotland advised visitors not to travel to the island for an overnight stay without booking accommodation. With hotels, guest houses and B&Bs often fully booked, even before the recent upsurge of visitors, many tourists had to spend one or more nights in their vehicles. Car parks at many of the points of interests filled up quickly with long queues for spaces forming, leading to frustration and some incidences of `road rage`.

Aer Lingus Regional recently announced that they will introduce an extra flight between Dublin and Glasgow on Thursdays, Fridays and Mondays. Franchise partner Stobart Air already operates three services seven days a week from Glasgow on behalf of the Irish Republic`s national carrier and the additional flights will boost capacity on the route by 12%.

​​The service is very popular with business travellers and those visiting either country for leisure purposes, particularly to enjoy a city break. The additional flights give more scope for passengers travelling from Glasgow, via Dublin, and on to the USA bound for destinations including New York, Boston and Chicago, as they can save time by making use of pre-clearance service at Dublin. Although the passenger numbers using the Aer Lingus Regional Glasgow - Dublin route are encouraging, it seems that the ATR turboprops of Stobart Air will remain the aircraft of choice for the foreseeable future.

A return to the increased capacity offered by Aer Lingus Airbus jet liners, a familiar sight at Glasgow for many years, is now unlikely. ​I took these shots back in September / October 2005.

Thanks to ongoing air-side parking restrictions at Edinburgh Airport, Glasgow International is still taking corporate night-stoppers from the capital which currently only offers passenger a drop-off / pick-up service. Prestwick and Dundee continue to accommodate some of the over-spill traffic. Unfortunately the one jet Glasgow enthusiasts wanted to see most was allowed to remain at Edinburgh - the Rolling Stones` private airliner complete with the band’s world-famous lips logo. The aircraft brought personnel and equipment ahead of the Stones` gig at Murrayfield Stadium on Saturday 9 June.

Planes on the Australian Register are a rare sight at Glasgow: Gulfstream G650 VH-LAL (f/v) arrived on Sunday 17 June and night-stopped.

US-registered Falcon 900EX N94UT landed at Glasgow for the first time about 10:15 hrs on Tuesday 12 June 2018.

Swiss registered Pilatus PC-12 HB-FOZ. When the exective area gets busy, it`s difficult to get uncluttered shots of individual aircraft.

Piaggio P-180 Avanti II N196SL arrived at Glasgow for the first time on 29 June. (F/t Bratislava).

Military

Not much military activity at Glasgow Airport this month: Royal Navy Merlin HM.1 ZH828, call-sign ‘Tiger 62’, made its first visit on the 4th and a pair of US Army Citations made an hour-long fuel stop late morning on Tuesday 12 June. The aircraft were UC-35C 03-0726 `Pat 165A` and UC-35B 03-0016 `Pat 159A`.

German Air Force Bombardier Global 5000 14+02 (f/v) call-sign `GAF 685` did two `touch and goes` on Runway `05` just after 11:00 hrs on the 27th which was quite a coincidence as although the German national football team had plenty of touches in their World Cup match later that day, they went too! Following a lacklustre start, the current holders and one of the pre-tournament favourites required a win to progress into the knock-out stages of the competition but a spirited South Korean side battled on to win 2-0 leaving the Germans at the bottom of Group F. It`s the first time that a West German / German team has failed to progress from the initial round since 1938.